TonyRV2

Agreed.

Thanks for the tip. I think I will order a bottle and check it out, but I'm afraid I'll like it. I like easy cleanup too. Ah...the things we suffer for our art.

In my limited experience I think you have something unique there...like I said, hit little leagues, high schools, junior high...(heck, can you make a football too??) I guarantee you'll eventually hit pay dirt and word of mouth will have you busier than a one legged man at a butt kickin' contest.

I like the baseballs. Have you thought about marketing to the local little leagues? Who wouldn't want a box of specially logo'd baseballs to pass around at the banquet?

Put a drop of loctite on them or if you don't have loctite then a drop of any kind of glue would probably suffice.

Looks good and your welcome! I've found that in making knives and knife sheaths that many times the process is one of continually fixing screwups. Its all good though because sometimes the mistakes bring you somewhere that you may not have thought of going otherwise. By the way, what did you wind up using to paint over the neat lac?

Why not encase it in plexiglass?

Hi all. I'm relatively new to the forum, joined just last July. The forum has really become a great resource for me in learning more about leatherwork. I though it about time that I upload an avitar to go along with my posts but for the life of me, I can't find anywhere through the profile edit links that allow me to gets me to the upload avitar function. Its probably simple I'm sure, and if someone could steer me in the right direction, it'd be greatly appreciated, thanks!

I'm not looking to make any money at this, its more of a hobby than anything else for me. I make knives and sheaths for folks I know and once and a while I do a custom order for someone through word of mouth. Guitar straps would be the same way. I know a lot of musicians having played keyboards in bands for much of the last 40 or so years and making guitar straps would be a natural fit for me just to give me another avenue to pursue the hobby. Thanks for posting your pictures, perhaps someday in the distant future I will have acquired those kind of skills too.

Yeah George, that was one of the things that I'd liked about this model as well....rated for 3/4" of leather, and is one of the reasons I asked the question. You've answered it. Thanks. Perhaps I could just use your buddies too...I see your just down the road from Gainesville.

I did as a matter of fact look at that one, and even though its less expensive, I wasn't as impressed with the specs as compared to the Cobra 3. I really don't mind paying the price as long as the quality is there...you know....pay once cry once.

So I'm noodling around on youtube today and I came across a video done by Kevin and Rusty over at Springfield Leather that was about 45 minutes long and going over the Cobra Class 3 sewing machine. It looked like an impressive machine and would suit my purposes as I make primarily knife sheaths. I've also been thinking about branching off into guitar and instrument straps as well. So a medium duty machine is in order unless I want to spend most my time hand sewing as I have been. I'd like to hear from others that own this particular model. What are the pros and cons of this machine. Any buyers remorse? It looks to be well built and reasonably priced but you can only tell so much from a video and there's really no where around where I live to actually put my hands on one. So....what say you? Thanks. Oh....here's a link to the video if anyone is interested..... http://springfieldleather.com/Sewing-Machine-Cobra-Class-3 ...Tony

Nice looking work Chief. Its inspirational. I make mostly knife sheaths because I got into knife making a while back, but have been giving serious consideration into going into instrument straps as well. Timing is not too bad for me right now since I'm personally in need of a few straps at the moment.

Thats the best suggestion yet!!

This doesn't have to be rocket surgery....its leather work for petes sake and something like the length of your straps if done to an accuracy of +/- a couple of inches is not going to ruin the project. I would just do this. Approximate the loop of the strap as an easier shape to deal with, like half of a rectangle. Then the calculation for length becomes simple. Twice the drop plus the distance between the attachment points. Naturally, this is going to give you a length a bit longer than the length of an arc shape, but it should accommodate the extra length needed for attachment as well. After doing it this way a few times you'll get a feel for how much you might vary from this simple calculation.

Call it what ever you want....thats how the other names came about after all. How about 'Funnel cake'.

I think what I would do is to buy a 5lb or so bag of scraps to use to teach them basic skills to start off. You could have them do some simple tooling at first, and lead them into geometric tooling, like basketweave or other similar tools. This could take up 2 or 3 classes easily, and I'm assuming you have all of the tools already. Another two or three classes could be spent on stitching and lacing methods. You can also discuss and demonstrate dying and finishing leather and if you're gutsy, give them all latex gloves and some daubers and let them dye a few pieces of scrap. All the while, and eye should be kept on the prize so to speak, a capstone project of some kind perhaps put together with ready made kits since I doubt you want 10 year olds messing around with swivel knives, round knives or other sharp instruments. Between the basic skills that you'd be teaching, along with a capstone project, you should have no problem filling 10 lessons. Start by coming up with an estimate for how long it will take the kids to finish their final project and then work backwards from there to decide how much time you want to devote to basic skills as well as which skills you want to discuss with them. Most importantly above all, you should have fun with it, and so should the kids.

How long is each class and what do you have for a budget?

Use and embrace both systems, its really not that difficult. To that end order a few measuring devices for both systems and for those times where it doesn't much matter, then use the system of your preference, though it may be a better idea to use the one that you DON'T prefer. I think the real problem that people have is one of visualization. In your minds eye, you may have become accustomed to visualizing what in inch looks like, but have no idea what a centimeter of length might look like (2.54cm = 1"). Or the reverse may be equally as true. If you simply force yourself to embrace both systems, you'll have your brain wrapped around it in no time at all. Right now I think I'll head over to McDonald's for a .1136 Kilo-er with cheese.

Looks to me like a holster guy may have made it. Nice work, you're way too modest.

Sacre' Bleu!!

I bought one of those applicators with the cone shaped ends on them that turn as you apply your edge cote. The heads are made of brass and you just dip them in the bottle of edge cote to load them up. It works very well and you get nice controllable coverage. I found one on amazon that was half the price of the craftool model that tandy sells. I can't imagine that one would be any better than the other considering how simple they are in construction. Here's a link if you're interested: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KNMWEI0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ...Tony

Hey Mario...welcome to tool addiction anonymous....oh.....I mean the wonderful world of leathercrafting. The first thing I would check with are the area community colleges. Most have non-credit adult special interest type courses that they offer for a pretty reasonable price. The local high schools may be another place to find similar adult ed courses. Another alternative would be to find someone with an existing leather shop in the area and ask them if they'd be willing to take on an intern...for free if necessary until you build up your skills. A google search may bring up a club or a group in your area as well, but it seems for leathercrafting these are few and far between. Another great place for beginners if right here! So you're already off to a good start. There are seasoned professional craftsmen and women that will be happy to answer any question you may have. That said, always search the archives first, because a lot of the basic questions have already been answered and there are a lot of stickies as well to browse through. Now get to studyin'. I just noticed that you were referred to this site by an employee of Tandy Leather....they usually have classes at their stores as well. Oh....and don't forget youtube. A lot of tutorials there as well.

I've never read anything about the couple having children which leads me to believe that the didn't. Perhaps he lacked the tooling.

As a college prof, I'd have to argue the point. I've had plenty of electronics students that very intelligent and able to do and comprehend things that took others a much longer time to accomplish. I've yet however met a young student possessed what I would define as wisdom. Experience alone comes from doing things. From learning to avoid the mistakes (usually from having made them) that others less experienced are inclined to make. Wisdom on the other hand, in my humble opinion, develops as a mix of one personal experiences and the observations of the experience of others coupled with an insight as to why people make the decisions that they make. To be wise means not necessarily to be a student of a craft, but to be a student of life as well. Now I'll get off of my soapbox too, and perhaps wisely so.